(RNS) — Since President Donald Trump took office in January, congregants of the Voice of the Gospel Tabernacle church in the Mattapan neighborhood of Boston have gathered weekly to pray for a miracle.
Members of the Haitian congregation hope God will soften the hearts of the country’s leaders so they will spare immigrants from deportation, said the church’s lead pastor, Bishop Nicolas Homicil.
“We prayed for God to take control of the White House, to change those people who lead the country now, to talk to them, to let them know Jesus himself was a refugee in Egypt,” Homicil said.
But on Tuesday (March 25), the Department of Homeland Security ended a program that allowed more than half a million nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to remain in the country. The DHS notice said the temporary protected status granted to individuals — many of whom entered under a Biden-era humanitarian parole program called CHNV, an acronym for the four countries — would end on April 24. It urged individuals to self-deport or prepare to face arrest after the deadline.
The news sent a shockwave through the Haitian community, as many immigrants who left the Caribbean island stricken by gang violence benefited from the CHNV program. At the Voice of the Gospel Tabernacle church, 30 members came early on Wednesday to fast and pray for the hundreds of thousands of Haitians who face deportation.
Homicil said they chanted a famous Creole anthem for difficult times: “Nan mitan gwo lanmè ak tanpèt mwen te ye/San sekou m te pèdi, San lafwa, sa …